HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Today's snow is the third-biggest on record in Madison County.

Steve Shumway, a meteorologist with Huntsville's National Weather Service office, said 8.9 inches fell at the airport -- the county's official measuring station.

Shumway said the city has seen only two bigger snowfalls since record-keeping began in the 1890s.

On New Year's Day 1963, Huntsville was buried under a whopping 17.1 inches of snow. A winter storm that struck Jan 7-8, 1988, brought 9.6 inches.

This morning's total surpasses the roughly seven inches that fell on Madison County during the blizzard of March 1993, Shumway said, although parts of Jackson County got nearly a foot during that storm.

With temperatures expected to remain at or just above freezing through Friday, the postcard-perfect snowy landscape will be with us for a while.

Shumway said the mercury is expected to dip into the mid-20s overnight. The NWS is calling for a high temperature of 37 on Tuesday, but Shumway said all the snow on the ground could keep things cooler than that.

Wednesday and Thursday will be even chillier, with highs of 30 degrees and 29 degrees, respectively.

A slow warm-up coming is coming Friday, he said.

No decision has been made yet about whether Huntsville, Madison and Madison County schools will re-open Tuesday.